This invention relates to apparatuses for cleaning grout and other hard surfaces. In particular, it is a high-pressure water-jet cleaner having wet-vacuum waste removal with a high-volume negative-pressure suction of wet waste from a vacuum housing and a low-volume positive-pressure of water from a water-jet nozzle directed into the vacuum housing that has resilient edges which the high-volume negative-pressure suction of wet waste maintains in sliding-seal contact with surfaces being cleaned by water jetted under high pressure with low volume from the water-jet nozzle.
Various machines have been devised for cleaning carpet and other surfaces. None, however, provide the effectiveness and convenience for cleaning tile grout and other hard surfaces taught by this invention.
Examples of different devices are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,591, issued to Clark on Sep. 6, 1994, teaches a rotary fibrous pad on a handle which contains reservoirs of cleaning fluids and rinsing fluids that are directed under low pressure to and from the fibrous pad. U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,439, issued to Allison on Jan. 19, 1993, teaches a carpet-cleaning wand having containers for holding low-pressure cleaning solution and rinsing solution mounted on it. U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,805, issued to Pinter on Oct. 27, 1992, teaches a spray nozzle directed against a slanted back wall of an elongate vacuum head from which sprayed and variously foamed cleaner are removed by suction into the elongate vacuum head during cleaning strokes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,126, issued to Bonnant on Jun. 30, 1992, teaches wide-area jetting of cleaning fluid into a truncate-coned cleaning chamber which is spaced apart inside of a truncate-coned vacuum chamber to form a circumferential channel through which the cleaning fluid is vacuumed from around the truncate-coned cleaning chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,328, issued to Berfield on Jan. 15, 1991, discloses a drip-cleaning attachment for use in association with a vacuum cleaner for carpets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,005, issued to Graye on Dec. 11, 1990, teaches a fluid-medium rug-cleaning vacuum cleaner that is limited to low-pressure injection of cleaning fluid from a nozzle having momentum-drag suction of air to compensate for over-suction of the cleaning fluid through a vacuum-cleaner hood. British Patent Number 892,658, issued on Mar. 28, 1962, teaches a broad-area mouth-piece which covers correspondingly broad-area nozzle-spraying of cleaning fluid which is vacuum-suctioned to a separator of the cleaning fluid from air entering under edges of the mouth-piece.